Help us tell real stories about dairy farming, says DairyCo

Published 15 December 10

Dairy farmers have a vital role to play in providing strong
positive messages for consumers, according to DairyCo's head of
marketing and communications, Amanda Ball.

Speaking at the Reaseheath Dairy Sustainability Conference on
Wednesday, Mrs Ball said that targeting the media with positive
stories was paramount to help the industry build the right image,
and urged dairy farmers to get in touch with DairyCo if they had
positive news stories to tell.

"We want to get good news stories about dairy farming in the
media, and dairy farmers can help us" she said, citing examples of
recent coverage generated by DairyCo in The Times and on regional
TV news. "By putting this sort of story in the media we can
help the industry build the right image and show a true picture of
dairy farming in Great Britain," she said.

Mrs Ball also highlighted the importance of a coherent industry
message, suggesting that the industry should embrace its diversity
and focus on continued improvement in welfare outcomes.

"Our market research has shown that consumers are in support of
dairy farmers and the work they do," explained Mrs Ball, "and we
know that issues of animal welfare are important to consumers as
well as to dairy farmers; that's an important message for us to get
across."